Two Telekinetics Walk into a Coffee Shop
by LuminereLucifer
Summary: Gideon and Luke get some downtime during the holidays.


**Hi Hi hi guys. Not much to say about this one except sorry but I'm obsessed with Luke like omfg so expect more of this. I, evidently, enjoy writing the angstier side of the COLA's, I have this massive confrontation drafted which basically involves all of the True Eleven having a massive argument, so if you're a masochist, look forward to that. This is set before the events of Unleashed, but after... Whatever the last book is called?! Stirring the Storm?! Wait, wait, would they be being followed my members of the secret service then?! Sorry, I don't know. Just enjoy? Also- Dedicated to JazzyJ04 for pointing out that I'd written "Coff" in the title instead of "Coffee." Hehehe ^^;**

I pushed open the door with my hands, and there was the pleasant tinkling sound of a bell. It felt odd, the coolness of the wood beneath my hands. At Tregarren, _physically_ opening a door was something I almost never did unless a teacher or someone from the government was lurking behind a corner trying to catch me out. True, we weren't supposed to use telekinesis outside of Development classes, but I figured it couldn't hurt. Out here, however, in the real world, there wasn't a chance I would do something so thoughtless. Risk loosing my holiday? To save myself such a measly amount of effort? Fat chance. I wasn't as stupid as people liked to think I was.

Luke entered behind me, blinking around curiously, and I shot a concerned glance at him. Huh. Me, concerned? Mrs Dann would eat her hat. Although Luke had been staying with Dad and me in the holidays for a couple of terms now, we still hadn't had the chance to visit this place. Before Cola club, I used to visit all the time, and it was strange, a place familiar to me, but not to him. After everything we'd, it was almost like we were one and the same. Places like this were few and far between.

The cafe was exactly as I remembered it. Shockingly, it smelt strongly of coffee. The furniture, musty and dusty, was all brown leather, and in serious need of replacement. Stacks of empty cups jostled for space on the tabletops. No seats were taken despite the long queue at the kiosk, everyone waiting had only stopped briefly, on the way to work. It was just how I liked it; my choice of seats, and plenty of time to decide what I wanted while I queued.

So the two of us stood in line together, talking animatedly (through sign language, of course) of things of no great importance; of Cola Club, and how to beat the latest level on a new video game without getting distracted by the feedback our Cola powers always caused at the most hair-raising moments.

_"Maybe Clive can do something about it?" _I signed to him, and he nodded, pushing up his glasses with a small smile.

_"Sounds good. I guess we can ask him at the start of next term, if he's not too busy." _

That was my brother. Always putting others first.

The man in front of us, a heavy-set construction worker with a bulbous nose, tossed a note onto the counter and walked off with his quadruple espresso, mumbling something about illegal immigrants taking all the good jobs. We approached the sulky looking teenager behind the desk. She was rolling a piece of gum in her mouth and examining her claw like manicure with great concentration. She reminded me of Lisa. I decided immediately Lisa didn't need to know this, since I liked my head attached to my body.

After a couple of moments of silence, I coughed, maybe too loudly. Luke winced and shrank back, hating the fact that I was drawing attention. I regretted it instantly, and tried to flash him an apologetic look. The girl finally tore herself away from her manicure and gave us a disdainful look, through lashes so heavy with mascara it was a miracle she could even open her eyes.

"Can I help you?" her question was punctuated with soggy chewing noises. I made a silent vow never to chew gum again.

"Yes, actually." I said hotly. "Funny, isn't it, you get a job as a cashier in a coffee shop only to find out people expect you to actually_ work?! _Appalling! I feel for you, really-" just then Luke nudged me gently with his elbow. I didn't need sign language to understand the look in his eyes. With a grudging sigh, I turned back to the bimbo. "Two double hot chocolates," I slapped a handful of coins onto the table, albeit a little aggressively. "Whipped cream for me, but none for him." The bimbo didn't move.

"And he can't speak for himself, huh?" She pointed a finger at Luke, who shuffled awkwardly in his trainers and looked away. Right on cue, fury coursed through my veins; I could hear the blood coursing through my ears. What right did she have- "What's wrong with him?" she demanded. "You can't keep speaking for him forever, you know." Seething, I started to retaliate.

"That's none of your-"

"_Cat_ got his tongue?" The next thing I remember was the sound of shattering ceramic. The bimbo turned, gawking like a fish, to face the opposite wall, and I followed her gaze. A coffee-coloured stain had exploded against the wallpaper, already dripping, and fragments of what once must've been a mug lay in sharp white shards on the floor beneath it. I stared disbelieving, aghast. I hadn't done something like this since before... before...

...before I knew what was happening, my brother had grabbed my sleeve, and was dragging me towards the door. The cold air from outside came as a shock, like breaking the surface after being underwater for a long time. It brought me back into myself, cleared my head. Luke was standing in front of me, still holding onto my arm, cheeks slightly flushed and spectacles askew. He seemed to realize I was looking at them, and pushed them back into place. We were both breathing hard, a pair of identical clouds of fog rising from our mouths. In a sharp movement, I tugged myself away and turned so I didn't have to face him. But we could hardly talk that way, so he walked around the my front.

_"What happened?" _His hands shook slightly as he asked.

_"I'm sorry." _Keeping eye contact was difficult. _"It wasn't... I didn't do it on purpose. I didn't even know I was doing it." _

Luke was silent for a while, upon hearing this. I ground my teeth as he titled his head to one side, considering me with an infuriatingly reasonable look on his face.

_"Would-" _my hands stopped moving of their own accord for a moment, but I continued regardless. _"Would you stop that? You look like one of the scientists at COLA Club."_

He automatically signed an apology, which only made me feel more irrationally irritated, so I stuffed my fists into my pockets before I could sign something that would confirm I had just lost my mind.

_"Are you okay?"_

I nodded, which probably came across stubborn and child-like from the way Luke raised his eyebrows at me. He raised his hands, and now it was his turn to hesitate.

_"You don't... You feel guilty, don't you?" _

There was a pause. Luke swallowed inaudibly, I passed a tongue over my dry lips, brought my hands up and down several times, pondering my response. A bike passed, a buzzing sound emitting from its wheels as it shot down the street. More time passed, but I just stood, digging my nails into my palms, until finally...

_"I-I didn't mean to, okay? You know how it is, with COLA powers. It just happened. She made me mad." _

I felt my brother's grip on my arm, and turned to him. Luke gave me a watery smile, nodding sympathetically. He didn't have to sign anything._ "It's okay."_

I tried to return the smile, but it was probably more of a grimace. I must have looked pretty stupid, because he opened his mouth in a silent laugh. Mixed emotions threatened to tear me apart, and we just stood like that, no doubt blocking the door of the coffee shop until the clock in the town square struck eight and we were roused from our stupor.

It wasn't until we were safely back on the bus that I realized I might not have been the one who had made the lights flicker.


End file.
